New York's Insatiable Abortion Appetite

Today is the 45
th anniversary of the Supreme Court's tragic
Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion across the nation. New York had previously legalized abortion, so this year is the 48
th anniversary. Both of these statements are an indictment of the inhumanity of our contemporary society.

Here are a few numbers to contemplate (all are from 2015 except the last three, which are from 2014):

86,627 – the total number of abortions in New York State. So in a little over two years, the equivalent of the population of my hometown of Yonkers is aborted.

367 – the number of abortions per 1,000 live births in the state. In other words, over a quarter of all pregnancies in our state ends with an abortion.

505 – the number of abortions per 1,000 live births in New York City. In other words, over a third of all pregnancies in the City ends with an abortion.

1,038 – the number of abortions per 1,000 live births for African-Americans in New York City. So there are more abortions than live births among African-Americans. If that number doesn't appall you, then I fear for the state of your soul.

2,106 – the number of abortions in our state after 20 weeks – after the time when unborn children can feel pain. How much more inhumane can we be, than to dismember a living human being who feels the pain of it?

48,345 – the number of cases in which the abortion was not the woman's first. This shows that in many cases, abortion is a backup form of contraception.

3,998 -- the number of cases where the woman had at least 5 prior abortions. The pathos of this number is too great to express.

Will our state's insatiable appetite for abortion ever be satiated?

Apparently not, if you pay attention to what our Governor is doing.

In his State of the State Address, the Governor called for the incorporation of
Roe v. Wade into our laws and constitution. That would put the right to an abortion on the same plane as the right to free speech and the right to vote. If that's not extreme enough, he included in his annual budget bill a proposal that would eliminate all criminal penalties for abortion. This would eliminate key protections for women and unborn children: the requirement that only doctors perform abortions, the requirement that abortions after 24 weeks be done only to save the life of the mother, and the ability to prosecute persons who deliberately attack and kill a child while still in her mother's womb. Even worse, this bill would also repeal a section of the law that protects a child who is born alive as the result of an abortion.

Consider for a second the corrupt dishonesty of including in a budget bill such a proposal -- which has nothing whatsoever to do with government finances. The only purpose of doing so is to make abortion a negotiable item, and to put increased pressure on the legislature to pass the abortion expansion measure as part of the overall funding of our state government. Since nobody wants to repeat the government shutdown fiasco we've seen in Washington, it's like a hold-up – expand abortion or else.

Gone are the days when "pro-choice" advocates put up the front of regretting the demand for abortion. Now they are openly "pro-abortion" and are celebrating abortion as a positive good. Just look at the rhetoric at the various Marches for Women from last weekend and the clear "not welcome" signals they sent to pro-life women. Just look at how ferociously they oppose all common-sense regulations of abortion. Just consider the shame of most House Democrats voting against a bill that would have guaranteed health care to any child lucky enough to survive an abortion and be born alive.

New York already has the disgraceful distinction of having the highest rate of abortion in the United States, according to the CDC. The insatiable appetite for the death of unborn children is a stain on our society.